>
> Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 16:21:31 PST
> From: "Phil Eaton" <peaton at hotmail_com>
> Subject: Plant weights - RE: Dave Gomberg's search
>
> Speaking of lead... Are the lead (or whatever it is) weights that come
> on the plants from the LFS detrimental in any way to the fish or plants
> in the tank?
>
Dr. G. and I have argued this one off-line for a while now. For years I
considered them quite safe, and my experience bore this out.
Then, once, I lost a valuable strain of killies when their tank was too
acid and the weights were partially dissolved. The deaths were slow and
mysterious, with obvious neurological complications. Only when they were
beyond recovery did I discover the white remains of the anchors and make
the connection.
EPA is mandating that larger domestic water suppliers raise pH to above
8, because lead, copper, and other materials used in plumbing can be
dissolved at lower pH and found in our drinking water. Heavy metals are
cumulative poisons, and the results are rarely conclusive without
elaborate chemical analysis.
Based on all that, I quit using them about 4 years ago, and have never
had similar symptoms in my fish since, AFAIK. YMMV.
Wright
--
Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679 huntley1 at home dot com
One big difference between a Libertarian and a Demopublican is the
Libertarian knows it's not a waste to vote against a Republocrat.
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